The fortress had long since been reduced to rubble. Due to the origin-power incendiary materials within them, the fires kindled with military fuel burned at extremely high temperatures. Many of the steel structures had melted into liquid metal.
Corpses from both factions had been burned together until there was nothing left but charcoal. It was impossible to differentiate between them.
Nighteye strolled around the fortress in silence before coming to a stop at the center. “Who will explain to me about this casualty rate?”
The dark race experts exchanged glances, unable to understand why Nighteye was suddenly angry.
Only the demonkin in charge of frontline command were alarmed. The highest-ranked among them was that old duke. He was clearly of a higher rank, yet he couldn’t help but tremble in fear as he stood before her.
Nighteye’s gaze landed on his body. “There are very few demonkin corpses and a lot of vampires. Especially that Count whatever…”
A vampire marquis moved close to her and said, “Count Hiller.”
“Right, that Count Hiller. You clearly knew he’s the Azure King’s descendant, yet you sent him to his death. Are you intent on making an enemy out of the Azure King’s lineage, or are you trying to challenge my authority?”
The old duke said, “The Azure King has tens of thousands of descendants. There’s no way he’d care about someone with such a thin bloodline.”
“So… that means you’re provoking me?” Nighteye’s brows rose.
Before the duke could explain, Nighteye’s expression turned cold. “I don’t care if you received a secret order or if it’s for selfish motives. I will have you and everyone else here know that the honor of the upper echelons is not to be challenged!”
The duke’s expression changed drastically. He noticed a layer of dark golden blood energy shrouding the scenery around him, yet he didn’t dare counterattack. Instead, he immediately took to the air and fled!
A small dim sun appeared in the boundless world of dark golden blood energy, slowly sinking into the sanguine ocean.
“Eventide: Bind!”
The sun descended faster all of a sudden and sank into the scarlet waters. As though he had been constrained by an invisible hand, the old duke was dragged to the ground, flailing and struggling.
“Rising Moon: Behead!”
A full moon appeared in Nighteye’s domain, from which four blades descended one after another.
The old duke’s demonic energy churned as he formed all kinds of armor, shields, and barriers. Yet, the four moonlight blades slashed through them all, ultimately severing the demonkin’s limbs amidst miserable cries.
Nighteye stood with her hands behind her back. “This is a small lesson to teach you the price of provoking a superior. Go back and recuperate!”
Several demonkin experts picked up the duke and his limbs before hurrying away.
They didn’t forget to go down on one knee and salute Nighteye before leaving. Only after the full ceremony did they dare to get up and leave.
The dark race experts nearby held their breaths, not daring to move a muscle. Nighteye’s domain was still in place, and the dark golden moon was still gleaming with cold light.
The other two dukes at the scene were a bit stronger than the duke from before, but the difference was fairly limited. A single glance at those moonlight blades told them that they would not be able to block a single attack. Nighteye had produced four blades with a wave of her hand and still had the strength to spare.
They had never even heard of such a terrifying domain.
Nighteye’s gaze swept across the experts’ faces. “Any objections?”
Who would dare? Everyone shook their heads quickly.
Only then did Nighteye retract her domain. “From now on, you will follow my orders exactly without any discounts.”
Everyone agreed profusely.
Nighteye slowly flew up until she was high in the air. The group of experts followed suit, but intentionally kept themselves one level below her. With the old duke’s example before them, no one dared to provoke her again.
The demonkin had all his limbs severed from his body. Although the limbs weren’t crushed, it would still take him a decade or so to completely heal himself with secret arts. How many decades could this old expert afford to squander?
The old duke had taken advantage of his front-line authority to send a large number of vampires to their deaths. Nighteye’s punishment was akin to crippling him for the remainder of his life, not at all giving the Demon King any face. The sensitive people could already smell the brewing unrest.
The ongoing war against the humans served to barely suppress these matters, but how knew how long it would last?
Nighteye stood calmly in the air, gazing into the distance.
Everything was hazy to ordinary eyes, but true experts could see the vague outline of the Imperial fortress. That was the Empire’s main base and one of the Evernight Council’s final objectives.
No one knew what Nighteye was thinking at this point.
…
The atmosphere in the military department was so dreary that it was difficult to breathe. The staff officers and aides hurrying along the corridors looked panicked. That was because the reports in their hands contained unprecedented numbers, be it the casualty rates or the supplies requested from the front line.
Some of the staff found it unbearable when Song Zining began his blood-letting strategy a while back. But now, they were numb even as the numbers reached a whole new level. The only thing they could do now was to perform their duties like machines, squeezing as much resources as they could from the Empire’s different warehouses.
The disheartening news spread throughout the Empire at great speed. Qianye couldn’t help but feel surprised when Song Hui and Song Lun finished their reports.
Moments later, he said, “The reports say that the Evernight commander is Nighteye?”
“Correct, she’s the dark… no, the Evernight faction’s frontline commander.”
“Nighteye…”
“She’s an important character of the vampire race. It’s said that she’s somewhat… related to you.” Song Lun was tactful.
Qianye said after a while, “What else did the report say?”
“Just that, but the casualty rates are astronomical! Isn’t your woman too ruthless?” Song Hui couldn’t hold back.
Song Lun said hurriedly, “What are you talking about? The sire is no longer related to her. Even if he is, that’s his personal business!”
“Do we have data on the Evernight side’s losses?”
“Erm… I didn’t pay attention to that. Give me a while, I’ll ask those from the Summit of Peaks, they have to know,” Song Lun replied.
The Jade Sea under Qianye’s rule was home to various races. Cerulean Wave also became a capital city where many races lived and worked together.
An evident shift in power between humans and dark races took place as the Summit of Peaks moved in. The former was now greatly disadvantaged.
However, Qianye’s support of the human race was clear to see. As a god-like existence to the native werewolves, his weight in the matter kept things in a delicate balance. There was no conflict and everyone had learned to respect one another.
The humans had stopped addressing the other side as dark races and instead called them the Evernight races. The latter had also stopped using derogatory names when mentioning humans.
The distant war in Blacksun Valley almost seemed unrelated to the Jade Sea. The only thing that did happen was Cerulean Wave City becoming a major trade hub between the two factions.
Qianye’s stance was clear—important strategic resources would be shipped exclusively to the Empire, leaving only regular commodities for the Evernight side. Even then, he would only trade with the Summit of Peaks.
But regarding the secret deals occurring between the Imperial nobility and the dark races, Qianye had no idea, and he wouldn’t be able to stop them even if he did. This wasn’t unique to the Fort Continent. The two factions had never stopped trading even in the lowest Evernight Continent.
Now that the topic of the Blacksun-Valley war had been placed before him, there was no way to avoid it.
“Sire, what shall we do?” Song Hui asked.
Qianye waved his hand. “Let me think about it, you guys go back first.”
Song Hui wanted to say something, but she was quickly dragged away by Song Lun.
Once they were outside, Song Lun said in a whisper, “Can’t you see the sire’s not in a good mood?”
“But…”
“No buts! He knows much better than us, let him decide. Let’s go.”
Qianye stood quietly before the window. He really didn’t know how to make a decision. On one side was his true love and on the other side were his brothers—how was he to choose?
After a long while, he walked out of the room and headed to a small building near the duke’s residence.
This was the representative office of the Summit of Peaks, where the upper echelon of the tribes were stationed. Recognizing Qianye, the werewolves welcomed him to the chief delegate’s office.
“Where is William?” Qianye asked.
The chief delegate was a marquis. “Sire William is training the new recruits in person, he should be in the drill grounds.”
“Understood.” Following a nod, Qianye’s figure flickered and vanished from the spot.
The werewolf marquis stood dazed for a good while before realizing that Qianye was gone. He suddenly broke out in cold sweat.
Moments later, Qianye appeared above the Summit’s drill grounds.
This camp covered a vast area neighboring Qianye’s training ground for new recruits. Judging from its scale, the facility could train thirty to forty thousand soldiers at the same time. And there were already twenty thousand gathered in the field at the moment.
The Summit of Peaks had worked on this project with shocking efficiency. It also went to show just how much they yearned for group training.
When Qianye released a bit of his aura, a beam of golden light shot up from below and a giant golden wolf leaped up to where Qianye was.
Qianye observed the giant wolf’s fur. It was silver below the bristles but a faint golden color at the tip. This caused a wave of gold to appear whenever the giant wolf moved.
Qianye pointed at him, saying, “Are you trying to show off your new fur-color?”
“How is it? Beautiful, right? It screams of grandeur!” William seemed satisfied.
Qianye was in no mood to play games with him. “Let’s get to business.”
“Fine, what did you want from me?”
Qianye got right to the point. “I want the Evernight Council’s latest battle reports.”
“There are a lot of reports, you…”
“I want to see the report only you can see.”
William sighed. “The reports we get are quite limited. I didn’t want to tell you at first, but… I’ll show you since you’ve brought it up.”
